


Teen Wolves

by expplipo, roguejedi, rronanllynch, tsukisyama (dragonair)



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Alternate Universe - Supernatural Elements, Gen, M/M, Sportsfest 2019, squad goals
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-24
Updated: 2019-07-24
Packaged: 2020-07-18 00:43:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,854
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19965913
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/expplipo/pseuds/expplipo, https://archiveofourown.org/users/roguejedi/pseuds/roguejedi, https://archiveofourown.org/users/rronanllynch/pseuds/rronanllynch, https://archiveofourown.org/users/dragonair/pseuds/tsukisyama
Summary: This story, like all good fairy tales, starts with a towel.





	Teen Wolves

**Author's Note:**

> This was made for the first Main Round of Sportsfest 2019 by Team 3rd Gym with Kenma for the prompt: Growth. Accompanied by some beautiful art made by [spacercase](https://twitter.com/spacercase) (expplipo on ao3) which can be found [HERE](https://twitter.com/spacercase/status/1154219408597766144).

This story, like all good fairy tales, starts with a towel. 

Wait. That’s wrong. 

This story, like all good sports animes, starts with a towel. There’s nothing special about it—it’s red and blue striped, and a bit worn out. It may permanently smell like teenage boy, but other than that it’s a completely normal towel. And this is a completely normal story about completely normal teenage boys. 

“Good practice, guys!” Bokuto yells over the din of everyone cleaning up and putting their things away. He wipes his face with a towel and tosses it over to Akaashi who does the same. Before Akaashi might have balked at the thought of sharing a sweaty towel with anyone, but now he’s just happy he and Bokuto are close enough to do something like that. If Akaashi didn’t know any better he would say it’s intimate. 

“Oh, hey! Towel!” Kuroo holds out his hand and Akaashi tosses it to him. On second thought, it’s not intimate at all. It’s totally normal and platonic and does not make his heart flutter in a weird way because he does it with Kuroo too. 

As the clean up goes on, the towel ends up slung over a bench next to everyone else's towels. Other completely normal towels that looked and smelled exactly like this towel. Naturally, you can see the cause for confusion when there are so many totally normal towels in one place. 

Akaashi watches Lev grab the towel next, wiping his exceptionally tall face down with it. He holds it out of Hinata’s reach, forcing Hinata to jump up to get it. In all of Lev’s infinite wisdom he thought that it would take a few tries for Hinata to get it, which would in turn allow Lev to gloat for the rest of the night. Instead, Akaashi watches Hinata get it in one ridiculously high jump, and wipe his nose down with it too. Maybe towel sharing wasn’t actually intimate and was actually really gross. He’s suddenly very glad that he got it second rather than whatever number they’re on now. 

The towel lands back on the bench and Akaashi turns away to untangle Bokuto from the net. Their hands brush once. That’s irrelevant to the towel story, but very relevant to the way Akaashi’s heart is beating out of his chest.

When Akaashi turns around, Lev is frantically trying to wipe down the front of Kenma’s shirt, and shorts, and legs which are now soaked in...juice? Akaashi can see an empty bottle rolling away from them and can only imagine the chaos going on over there. He can hear Hinata’s frantic apologies over the rest of the commotion in the gym, and that’s enough to know that it’s a real crisis. The towel is unphased by the Juice Crisis and steadfastly doesn’t absorb anything, leaving Kenma damp. 

Lev and Hinata visibly deflate when Kenma pushes them away, but Akaashi can see Kenma relent and let them hover around him, even though the frantic wiping has stopped and the towel has returned to its spot on the bench. Akaashi is sure if Kenma knew how many sweaty teenagers had actually touched that towel, he would be less willing to coddle Lev and Hinata’s feelings. 

Akaashi snaps away from his observance of one very patient cat and two puppies as Bokuto slings his arm around his shoulders. Tsukishima and Kuroo are trailing behind him.

“Ready to go, ‘kaashi?! Wanna race back to the dorms?” 

Akaashi sighs, deeply.

“We already did our cool down lap, Bokuto-san. Plus I know you’ll scream the whole time and wake everyone up.” 

Bokuto pouts, and flops down on the bench where Kuroo sits next to him in order to pat his head consolingly. Akaashi meets Tsukishima’s eyes over their heads. _Idiots,_ his eyes say. 

_Ridiculous idiots,_ Tsukki’s eyes say back. 

Their shared exasperation dissipates as Tsukishima bends down and grabs a towel. _The_ towel. Akaashi watches with wide eyes as Tsukishima rubs it over his head. It’s been through six people now, half of whom Tsukishima hates. Maybe more than half. Akaashi’s not going to pretend to understand what qualifies as friendship for Tsukishima. 

Akaashi is about to open his mouth to subtly say something, but Bokuto cuts him off. 

“Bro! That’s my towel!” 

Akaashi sighs as Kuroo joins in.

“I thought that was Akaashi’s towel?” 

Akaashi silently shakes his head and points at Bokuto. He can already see Tsukishima turning red as he throws the towel onto the bench. Sometime during the discussion, Hinata, Lev, and Kenma wandered over: Hinata drawn by needing to be as close to his new favorite senpai as possible, Kenma drawn by the invisible magnet that holds him to Kuroo in any scenario, and Lev drawn by the other two being completely willing to leave him behind if he didn’t follow. 

Hinata looks at the towel, then at Lev. 

“I thought that was your towel!” the smaller boy yells, standing up on his tiptoes to attempt to peer into Lev’s eyes. Lev stands on his own tip toes and grins down at him. 

“I thought it was your towel! It’s so tiny,” Lev smiles wider, “like you.” 

Everyone groans. Now is not the time for short jokes, especially not such amateur ones. Lev and Hinata turn to look at Kenma in unison, starting to realize the implications of the towel disaster. 

“Shouyou…” Kenma begins, but it’s overpowered by Tsukishima yelling. Well, if Bokuto wanted Tsukishima to have passion about something, apparently all he had to do was let him use a towel that everyone else did too. 

“We all shared the towel? A towel that belongs to _Bokuto???_ ”

Bokuto lets out a quiet noise of offense but doesn’t say anything. 

“None of you thought to ask? Or tell me not to use it!?” 

Akaashi winces. He did try to tell Tsukishima, he was just too slow. Kuroo is the only one unphased by Tsukishima’s anger. 

“So what, it’s a towel. It’s not that big of a deal.” 

Akaashi blinks, but Hinata and Lev nod in agreement. Kenma seems to have vacated this conversation and maybe even the planet. Bokuto speaks up.

“Yeah! Kuroo’s right!” 

Tsukishima looks like he’s going to murder everyone here. When he speaks his voice is simultaneously burning and ice cold at once. There goes Akaashi’s early(ish) bedtime. 

“Not that big of a deal? Not that big of a deal!?” Tsukishima points at Bokuto accusingly, “do you even wash this towel?” 

Bokuto looks at Tsukishima like he’s crazy.

“I wash the towel when I get home, duh. Why would I wash the towel while we’re here? It’s just gonna get sweaty again!” 

Kenma gags. Good to see he’s still part of this conversation, at least. 

Tsukishima isn’t done, and bowls right past the, in Akaashi’s opinion, startling revelation. Is the boy he likes…gross? Does Akaashi like a gross boy?

“And you,” Tsukishima turns his accusing finger from Bokuto onto Lev, “did you even shower today?”

Lev’s face morphs into one of confusion.

“I showered yesterday, why would I shower today?” 

Now it’s Akaashi’s turn to gag. Everyone takes a small step back from him, except Hinata who leans into sniff him curiously. Kuroo looks scandalized when he interjects.

“We played volleyball all day today! And yesterday! It’s the,” his voice goes up an octave, “middle of the summer!” 

Tsukishima seems content now that everyone can share in his pain, and has his arms out in the universal sign for “See, I was right”. Akaashi feels like he has to sit down. Kuroo is still yelling at Lev about showering, and Hinata is questioning Bokuto on how often he thinks Hinata should wash his gym clothes. Kenma’s lying face down on the gym floor. 

It's amidst these shocking revelations that the lights in the gym go out, silencing everyone. Bokuto runs into the middle of the gym, triggering the motion sensors, but by then Tsukishima is already on his way out. He glares at everyone a final time before leaving. 

“You’re all disgusting.” 

Everyone else files out after him, choosing to focus on Lev’s poor hygiene over the Terrible Towel Talk, leaving Bokuto and Akaashi in the gym alone. 

Bokuto looks between the towel and Akaashi, face at almost a full dejected mode frown. Akaashi sighs. 

“Just throw it out, Bokuto-san.”

Bokuto’s brows knit together in hesitation. Akaashi hates that he’s weak to that face, hates even more that Bokuto doesn’t even notice that he is. 

“I have an extra you can borrow, too.” 

Bokuto’s face clears immediately, and Akaashi would roll his eyes at how easy it was if it didn’t warm his heart to see it. Stupid heart ruining his ablity to roll his eyes. Since when does his heart interact with his eyes? Those organs aren’t even connected! 

Bokuto drops the towel in the garbage on their way out of the gym, and Akaashi flicks off the light. The totally normal towel has been discarded, and they’ll never think about it again.

Akaashi laughs quietly to himself as he rolls over that night. The look on Tsukishima’s face was pretty funny, even if he has to emotionally process Bokuto’s grossness because of it now. There’s an inexplicable itchiness spreading across the tops of Akaashi’s feet, and he rubs them against each other frantically to try and quell the annoyance. And like that, between one itch and another, Akaashi finally falls into a fitful sleep.

* * *

Only to be awoken the next morning by frantic shaking.

“Akaashi. Akaashi. Akaashi,” with that voice the shaking can only belong to one person. In all of Akaashi’s fantasies about waking up next to Bokuto, they certainly weren’t at training camp and Bokuto’s voice wasn’t panicked. 

Bokuto snorts. 

“Akaaaaaaaashi, you’ve thought about waking up next to me?!” 

Akaashi opens one eye. He didn’t say that out loud. Did he? Bokuto is beaming and maybe it would be okay if he said that out loud if it puts that expression on Bokuto’s face. Akaashi opens the other eye and all thoughts of accidental confessions fly out the window.

“Bokuto-san,” Akaashi breathes in deeply so he doesn’t let out an uncharacteristic yell, “what happened to your hair?” 

His characteristic tufts are gone, replaced with dark brown mats falling onto Bokuto’s shoulders. If it didn’t look so coarse Akaashi wouldn’t hate the look, but as it is he looks like a mangy dog. 

Bokuto shakes his head. His hand reaches up to run through it like he normally would, but he stops mid reach and brings it back to his lap. He stares at it like it betrayed him before looking up at Akaashi.

“You think about waking up next to me?!” 

His voice, which started at a whisper, is steadily rising in volume. Akaashi sighs and drags Bokuto up and out of the room, away from their sleeping teammates. Once the door shuts behind them Akaashi looks at Bokuto resignedly. 

“Bokuto-san, shouldn’t we focus on more important things. Like your weird hair situation,” when in doubt, Akaashi falls back on logic. And logically, they should focus on that, and not the way Bokuto’s looking at him and how he feels like he’s going to combust. The taller boy waves his hand in dismissal. 

“I think about waking up next to you too, Akaashi!” Bokuto’s smile is nearing hitherto unheard of proportions. Akaashi’s breath catches in his throat, and when he speaks its quieter and more full of hope than he intended. 

“Really, Bokuto-san?” 

Bokuto nods enthusiastically, and Akaashi has to look down at his feet to keep from bursting. He knew they were close, but he’d never let himself hope for this. However, all of Akaashi’s good feelings drop out of his stomach the moment he sees his feet. 

“Bokuto! Look!” Akaashi bounces on his leg to hold his foot up. It’s covered in the same matted fur that Bokuto’s head is, and it looks absolutely revolting. This morning has just started and he’s already so overwhelmed he forgot Bokuto’s honorific. He never forgets his honorific! 

Bokuto gasps and reaches out to touch it, but Akaashi cuts him off before he can.

“What are you doing?!” Akaashi screeches. Forget his brand of cool aloofness, his feet look like Hobbit feet! Akaashi focuses on slowing his breathing as Bokuto stares at his feet, and then looks back up at him.

“I wanna touch my boyfriend’s new fuzzy feet!” Bokuto lunges for them again, “Akaaashiiiiiiii, pleaseeee.” 

Akaashi feels like he needs to sit down. 

“Boyfriend?” he looks pointedly at Bokuto’s eyes, which are almost glowing in the soft morning light. A soft flush works its way over Bokuto’s cheeks. 

“I mean, I was-” Bokuto is cut off by a screech from across the building, and they both glance at it before turning to each other. Akaashi darts back into the room to grab a pair of socks and a beanie from Konoha’s bag before they sprint towards the noise. 

They’re halfway there when he grabs Bokuto’s hand. 

“Yeah, boyfriends.” 

Bokuto lets out a triumphant hoot.

“But you still can’t touch my feet.”

The wail of “Akaaashiiiii” follows them all the way into the next hallway.

* * *

Getting ready for practice the next morning proves to be difficult for two reasons.

The first: Kuroo’s throat is on fire. 

He first noticed it when he screeched at his reflection this morning. Heat bursts from the tip of his tongue and screams through his skin towards the center of his chest. If he inhales too deeply he’s sure he’ll end up coughing. Oh, well. He gives a mental shrug and tries to ignore the pain Having a cold during practice isn’t the end of the world. He’ll still be able to bug the first-years for being so terrible at blocks. Guiding them and their subsequent progress has proven to be Kuroo’s favorite part of this year’s training camp. 

The second, and at the moment more pressing of the two issues: his armpits.

Now, Kuroo is no stranger to shaving. He may not be super familiar with it—even he will admit that his armpits get a bit out of control, from time to time—but this… this is just ridiculous. 

Thick, matted brown hair sprouts from the inside of his elbow to halfway down his side. Grimacing, he shrugs a t-shirt over his shoulders. He’s tried this shirt on four times already, but he still can’t manage to hide the hairy mess on his torso. His first instinct is to shave it, but there’s _too_ much; he already broke two razors. And besides, he forgot to bring shaving cream. Maybe he can ask Bokuto for some? 

As if on cue, Fukurodani’s captain comes crashing through the doorway into Kuroo’s room. Akaashi trails close behind, balancing on one foot while yanking a sock over the other. The setter’s eyebrows are drawn together in concern. 

Their entrance is significantly hindered by the fact that they’re holding hands, and Bokuto keeps on sneaking glances at Akaashi like he’s gonna disappear any second. Well. It’s about time. Kuroo sneaks an approving smile to Akaashi and the setter blushes in response. Ah, young love. 

“Bro,” Bokuto says, slightly out of breath from apparently running down the hallway. He’s wearing a knit beanie, a questionable choice for the middle of summer. “You are _not_ going to believe this. Akaashi and I woke up this morning and— wait. What happened to your pits?” 

Kuroo lifts an arm awkwardly. “Would you believe me if I told you I woke up like this? No idea where it came from and it’s kinda nasty, but I think I still rock the look.” 

Bokuto’s expression clears before he silently lifts his beanie off of his head. Underneath is a mane of dark, unkempt hair completely disparate from his usual hair color. Kuroo gapes. It looks horrendous, especially on him.

“What happened to _you?_ ” 

“The same thing! Except, well, the hair’s growing on the top of my head.” 

“I can see that.” 

Bokuto shakes his head, although in awe or confusion, Kuroo doesn’t know. “It looks like a _beard._ ” 

“On the top of your head. That would be called hair.” 

“ _Yes._ But Akaashi…” 

At the sound of his name, Akaashi frowns. “I don’t think you’d want to see, Kuroo-san. But believe me, the outcome is just as terrible on my end.” 

“C’mon, Akaashi,” Kuroo smirks. “Bokuto showed me his gross head hair. You’ve seen my gross pits. It’s only fair.” 

Bokuto smiles. “Yeah, Akaashi! Maybe it could give Kuroo a clue and we can figure out what’s happening!” 

“It took me fifteen minutes to get each sock on this morning, Bokuto-san.” 

“And we’ll help you get them on again! _Please?_ ” 

Akaashi stares at him for a few seconds and sighs, unable to say no to his senior. As he starts to pull one of his socks off, Kuroo stashes this information away in his head for the future. They’d make a good couple, if they aren’t one already.

Upon looking down, Kuroo realizes that Akaashi was right. His hobbit feet are absolutely revolting; tufts of the same dark, twisted hair on Kuroo’s sides cover the top of Akaashi’s feet entirely. Oh, and the hair on Akaashi’s feet totally match Bokuto’s head of hair, too. Couple goals!

“It’s not just the hair,” he explains. “My actual feet have gotten bigger as well. I’m worried about practicing in shoes too small for me.” 

That’s weird. The hair is one thing, but Akaashi’s feet growing enough overnight to the point where his socks don’t fit? Something’s happening here, and it’s more than normal teenage boy hormones. There has to be some sort of connection between the three of them. Were they chosen? Is this some sort of setup to a volleyball-themed horror spinoff? Have they been infected by some kind of hair growth disease? 

“I’m tryna think,” Kuroo says, itching his armpits intermittently. Damn, this is going to get annoying. “If we’re gonna try to figure out what’s going on, we gotta figure out the connection. What do the three of us have in common that everyone else doesn’t?” 

“It might not just be us,” Akaashi points out. “Bokuto-san and I only saw a few Fukurodani students on our way over.” 

“It’s not like we were paying attention to them, either,” Bokuto adds sheepishly. Akaashi blushes and turns away. 

Kuroo raises a speculative eyebrow. That’s another thing to figure out, later. 

"Can one of you explain what the hell is going on," says a tired voice from the doorway.

Kuroo grins when Tsukki comes in, attempting to furrow his eyebrows. Each one is at least four times thicker than before, too big for him to put on his glasses, which he clutches firmly in his hands. Kuroo can't help but laugh at the sight of them for resembling a Sesame Street character. Big Bird, but with twice the snark. Or Oscar the Grouch, maybe. Better yet, Oscar and Big Bird’s secret love child. 

"Oh ho ho! Nice brows, Tsukki!" Bokuto cheers, waggling his own. "Did you draw them in yourself or are they all natural? Tell us your secret!" 

Tsukki rolls his eyes, obviously annoyed, but behind his thinly veiled disgust, Kuroo can also see the panic in them. Waking up with eyebrows bigger than your forehead must be alarming — just as alarming as waking up to armpit hair long enough to braid or a beard on your forehead or hobbit feet, maybe.

The hobbit feet might be in a league of their own, though.

“Tsukki too?” Kuroo mouths to Akaashi. The latter taps his fingers together in concentration.

“I woke up with a sore throat and itchy eyes,” Tsukki explains. “When I went to the bathroom, I saw _this_. Luckily I got out of the Karasuno side without anyone seeing me. But I had no idea where else to go, so.” 

Bokuto lights up, turning to Kuroo. “Aww! Bro, didja hear that? Tsukki wanted to visit us!!” 

“Oh, _Tsukki,_ ” Kuroo puts a hand on his chest. “How flattering.” 

Akaashi and Tsukishima exchange a glance. They probably have some sort of psychic connection from learning how to deal with dumbasses like Bokuto and Kuroo so often. 

“What are you guys doing, anyway,” Tsukki says finally. “Are you trying to figure this out?”

“Well, before you came in we were all staring at Akaashi's feet." 

Before the latter can hide them, Tsukki sneaks a glance and flinches. Akaashi tries to shove his foot in his sock, somewhat self-consciously, as the blond shakes his head. "This isn't real. Nothing is real. I'm off dead somewhere and this is my own personal Hell." 

Akaashi presses his lips into a thin line, eager to change the subject off his foot affliction. “Any ideas, Kuroo?”

Ideas? Kuroo had no rational ones—he never did. But if the four of them, Tsukki included, could wake up this morning with the same hair growth and sore throat symptoms, there _must_ be something that’s affecting them all in the same way. The best option is to split up and look for clues of other victims (?) and recuperate after they get the information they need. 

“Okay,” Kuroo brings his hands together in a single, thunderous clap, and nods resolutely, as if coming to a decision. “Akaashi, you’re on Googling duty. Search all the symptoms we’ve been having until you find something that matches.” 

Akaashi pulls out his phone, already tapping away at the screen. “On it.”

“I’m staying right here,” Tsukki says, trying to press down his eyebrows. “I barely made it over from the other side of the building. And I won’t be able to see without my glasses..” 

Kuroo nods. “You stay here, then. Help Akaashi, if you can. Looks like it’s just you and me, Bo. We’re gonna search for any others.”

Bokuto flicks a thumbs up in Kuroo’s direction. “Aye aye, cap’n!”

* * *

Finding Kenma was the easy part. All of the Nekoma rooms were placed right next to each other, and even the master of avoiding social interaction and embarrassment couldn’t conceal his shaggy forearms. 

"It could be worse," Kenma says, appearing in Kuroo’s doorway. He attempts to hide both arms behind his back, but it’s no use. Like with Akaashi’s feet, Kenma’s forearms are covered with tufts of unruly hair everywhere. It’s darker and denser than anyone else’s in the room, though, and even his typically calm eyes look tense. 

“It’s his arms,” Kuroo explains. “Just like what happened to the rest of us.” 

Kenma turns to the rest of the group. “I don’t recommend shaving it. It’ll just grow back right away thicker than before.” 

“Good to know,” Akaashi says. He turns to face Kuroo, their de facto leader. “Tsukki and I came up with a few leads.” 

“Kenma having symptoms clarifies some things. The common link between us could be that we’re the group that stayed after practice yesterday.” Tsukki ducks his head, blinking through the heavy mane of his brows.

“Which would mean,” Akaashi continues, “That there are two more people with symptoms.” 

Tsukki nods, eyebrows bristling in the process. “That tall freshman blocker on your team… and Hinata.” 

Does Tsukki not know Lev’s name? Or does he not care? Ah, the mysteries of Tsukki. 

Kuroo smiles knowingly. “Figures. Bokuto should be grabbing them.”

“Bokuto, Hinata-san, and Lev-san…” Akaashi sighs. “That’s not a good combination.” 

“Tell me about it,” Kuroo replies, noting the lack of honorific for Bokuto’s name. Seriously, how much did he miss between last night and this morning? “But anyway. Did you find anything else out? Like with the symptoms?” 

Akaashi shakes his head. “All that comes up online is the common cold. I’m not sure about you, but _this_ didn’t happen the last time I checked.” 

“Interesting… I have an idea of what it could be,” Kuroo smiles smugly.

Tsukki glances up. He keeps his face neutral, his voice calm, but his interest shows in his eyes. They’re wide and a little desperate, although the effect is somewhat diminished by his bushy brows. “Really?”

Kenma’s face, however, falls. “Kuro, please tell me it’s not what you told me on the way over—” 

“Hear me out….”

“Kuro, don’t—” Kenma tries again, but he’s interrupted as Kuroo lifts a single finger and raises his chin.

“Werewolves.”

“Werewolves?” Akaashi repeats dubiously.

“You heard me.” Kuroo juts out his chin a bit more. In his periphery, he sees Kenma drop his face into his hands. “Listen… it makes sense. The hair growth, obviously. Apparently you’re supposed to come down with a virus the first day, which explains the sore throats we’ve all been having. Then your enlarged feet, Akaashi. That should be happening to the rest of us, too. The next thing should be… our senses should get sharper.” 

Tsukki blinks, once, then twice. He shakes his head and scoffs. “That’s ridiculous.” 

Kenma glances at Tsukki in affirmation. “None of us even got _bitten._ ” 

“Worth considering, though,” Akaashi says. “Why don’t we—” 

“WHAT HAPPENED TO YOUR LEGS??” 

And sure enough, Bokuto stands in the doorway, hauling the hyperactive freshmen behind him. Just like they predicted. Tsukki’s face falls at the sight of Hinata and Lev bickering in the hallway. 

Lev pauses. “Huh? Oh, wait. WHAT?” 

“HUH???”

“Come here, you idiots,” Kuroo says, grabbing each first-year and shutting the door behind them. 

When they get inside, both Hinata and Lev still gape at the latter’s legs. 

_“What happened to me?”_ Lev wails, and Kuroo does have to feel sympathy for him. 

Kenma sighs. “Lev, did you really not notice that your own legs look like a gorilla’s?” 

“Wait a sec,” Hinata says, scanning the room and paling. “Kenma, what happened to your arms? And Bokuto-senpai, your hair? And Tsukishima????? Why are you guys are all so _hairy!_ ” 

“It had to have happened to you, too,” Akaashi says calmly. “If it only happened to the people who stayed after practice, you’d have to be affected too.” 

Hinata shakes his head obstinately. “Nuh uh. Nothing’s wrong with me. You guys are the weird ones.”

“Nah, something’s definitely wrong with you, too,” Kuroo says. 

Bokuto beams, smiling at Akaashi. “Sorry, kouhai. Akaashi’s always right about these things.” 

“But I’m fine!” Hinata cries, whipping off his shirt. He spins 360 degrees, revealing a completely hairy back. Everyone in the room’s expressions vary in amounts of amusement and disgust. “See? Fine!”

Lev is the first to crack up. “Hinata—” 

“Shut up, Lev,” Kenma says. “Shouyou, go look at your back in Kuroo’s mirror.” 

“My back? You guys better not be playing some sort of joke on me!” 

Kuroo sighs, leading him to the bathroom. “God, I wish we were.” 

For an excruciating moment, the entire room holds their breath. Then, chaos. 

“EEEEAUUUGHHHH????” he cries, storming out of the bathroom. “Wh- wh- what happened?? Why is my… why are our…. What happened to us????” 

“We’re not sure yet,” Akaashi says. “It’s something to do with how we all stayed after practice yesterday.” 

But what was so interesting about yesterday? All they’d done was practice, just like the day before. Staying after wasn’t uncharacteristic of them, either. Every day that week some combination of the seven of them were among the last people cleaning up, anyway. 

The practice, the virus, the hair. Somehow in all of that mess, everyone turned into a werewolf. 

_Shit._

“But how??” Hinata gapes, scratching his back obsessively.

“Isn’t this the type of thing that can be spread by an enchanted object?” Kuroo says, “In other words, Bokuto’s towel?” 

Akaashi presses his lips into a thin line. “I suppose it’s possible.” 

“Why do you know so much about werewolves,” Tsukki groans. 

“Whoa,” Bokuto says, in wonder. “My towel was _enchanted.”_

Kenma sighs, picking the hair (or is it...fur?) on his arms. “So are we stuck like this, or?”

“God, I hope not,” Kuroo says. “Akaashi, did you find any ways to un-turn into a werewolf?”

* * *

The next time that they all see each other, it’s at another training camp and three full moons have passed. With each cycle, the group chat that they had put together at the end of the previous camp came alive. Despite another full moon happening tonight, during the day the chat was silent. It was to be expected; they would be able to share their respective worries or excitement in person, anyway. 

As per the plan discussed last month, they convene in the smallest of Fukurodani’s gyms (which really isn’t small at all, at least compared to the Karasuno gym) to talk about their _situation._

Akaashi and Bokuto are already there, the former tossing sets for the latter to hit over the net. With enthusiasm and somewhat unnatural speed, Kuroo bolts from the door to the court so that he can receive the ball before it slams into the ground. 

Bokuto’s eyes light up. “Kuroo! Dude, hey!” He doesn’t even bother trying to hit the ball back as he ducks under the net to envelop Kuroo in a rib crushing embrace. Akaashi catches the ball as it flies back to his side of the court and smiles briefly at the exchange. Unlike Bokuto, he walks around the net to greet. 

“How have you been, Kuroo-san?” 

“You can let go now,” he says to Bokuto (who loosens his grip, before addressing Akaashi. “Eh, disregarding the entire…” he gestures vaguely in lieu of finding the right vocabulary to describe what’s happened, “...thing, everything’s been really good. And you?”

Akaashi doesn’t have time to reply as Kenma and Lev walk in. The first thing he notices is that Kenma’s hair is a bit longer than the last time they met. The second thing he notices, this time a bit distraught, is that somehow he’s grown even taller.

He hopes it’s just the werewolf magic doing it’s thing. Maybe it’ll do the same for him too.

Kenma walks up to Kuroo and hands him a camera. “You forgot this on the bus.” 

“Oh! I knew I was missing something. Thanks.” He slips it into the pocket of his jacket.

Lev walks over, a ball from the bin in his hands. “Are we going to practice or—”

He’s cut off by Hinata bouncing into the gym with Tsukishima trailing behind him. Hinata is all bright smiles, as usual, as he runs to join the rest of the group. 

“Practice time, practice time, practice time,” he sings off key. 

“Please… shut up,” Tsukishima says, visibly cringing. He puts a generous amount of distance between them. Akaashi is amused to notice that there really hasn’t been much of a change between the two’s interactions.  
s  
Hinata’s staring longingly at the stray volleyballs scattered near the ends of the gym. Kuroo laughs, “Do you plan on cleaning those up?”

Hinata shoots him a look that’s half-embarrassed and half-unbothered. “No… I want to play!” 

“Then stop staring and start getting warmed up.” 

Twenty minutes pass quickly with mindless chit chat and warm up exercises. They split up into teams with a bit of a struggle. It’s the same as the last camp: Hinata, Bokuto, and Akaashi on one side and Kuroo, Lev, and Tsukishima on the other.

There’s a bit of debate over which side Kenma should play on, and he was about to propose that he’d be alright just keeping score when Hinata put a hand on his shoulder to pull him onto their side. “He’ll join our team! Team Cat has too much height right now, anyway.” 

“It seems inappropriate to say cat now, doesn’t it? You know, considering our situations,” Tsukishima says, tossing a ball from one hand to the other.

Kuroo shrugs. “I don’t think I’m really bothered by it anymore. It’s as much a part of me as volleyball is. And besides, it brought all of us closer didn’t it?” His usual cheshire grin is replaced by something softer and more genuine. 

A few beats of silence pass as the rest mull over his words. Eventually, someone tosses a ball over the net, breaking the mood, and everyone is set into motion. 

Everyone is significantly more attentive during the practice than they were during the previous camps. Each block is more powerful than the last, the races to receive the ball before it meets the ground are swifter, and the sets more precise. Every movement has meaning. It’s hard to tell if it’s because of the work they’ve put in or the new magic that flows through their veins.

By the time the sun is setting on the horizon, they’re sitting on the ground panting and downing water like it’s the only thing keeping them alive right now. 

“Good practice,” Bokuto says between heaving breaths. 

Akaashi decides against a verbal response and instead puts a hand over Bokuto’s. 

Kuroo glances out of one of the gym’s many windows, catching the last rays of sun about to disappear. “Hey, is everyone up for a quick picture?” He’s met with some confusion. “To commemorate surviving being werewolves for so long! I just want to save this moment.” 

“So long?” Lev asks. “Hasn’t it only been a few months?”

Kuroo waves a hand. “Semantics. C’mon, let’s hurry up, everyone get together before the sun’s completely set.”

He grabs the polaroid camera he tucked into his jacket earlier and fiddles with the controls. No one’s moved yet. Kuroo looks at them. “Well…? What are we waiting for? Together isn’t that difficult of a concept, is it?” He starts herding everyone from where they’re sitting to a wall of the gym.

When everyone is more or less standing where they want, Kuroo sets the camera on a chair he pulled from the storage closet. He clicks the timer on and runs to join the group.

“Say werewolves!” Bokuto yells.

Somehow, they all manage to say the word at the same time the shutter goes off and the full moon rises high into the night sky.

“Oh no.” 

“Did we really—”

“There’s hair on my legs again!”

“You already have hair on your legs.”

“You know what I mean!”

Amidst the chaos and the new discomfort of his suddenly itchy shirt, Kuroo goes to grab the printed photo from the camera. 

There are the seven of them in their werewolf glory. Kuroo stifles a laugh and goes to his jacket to grab a marker. In the corner of the photo he scribbles, _MEMORIES OF CAMP!_

It doesn’t take long for the ruckus to calm down and everyone to join him on the other side of the gymnasium. They fight over the marker to add their own special touches. Eventually, the picture has been passed around so many times, it’s difficult to see the actual photo underneath all the markings. They laugh at the completed piece and take pictures of it on their phones so that they have their own copies.

It’s decided that Kuroo is the best person to keep the picture; it was taken with his camera after all. They go their separate ways to sleep, but not before promising that they will practice together again tomorrow, regardless of the appearance of their werewolf traits.

**Author's Note:**

> Don't forget to check out the [art](https://twitter.com/spacercase/status/1154219408597766144).
> 
> You can find all of us on our respective Twitter accounts.  
> Kira (roguejedi) [@TSUKHUSHIMA](https://twitter.com/TSUKHUSHIMA)  
> Jenna (dragonair) [@tsukisyama](https://twitter.com/tsukisyama)  
> Kylie (rronanllynch) [@RRONANLLYNCH](https://twitter.com/RRONANLLYNCH)  
> Case (expplipo) [@spacercase](https://twitter.com/spacercase)


End file.
